I'm back!!

 Hey everyone.  Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  The kids had Spring Break last week (now 2 weeks ago) so I was a little more occupied than normal and this week I have been...... well, lazy.  It's not that I didn't have anything to say it's just that I have so many pictures of last week that I wanted to post it just seemed to daunting a task so I keep putting it off!  

 Here it goes. So Spring Break.  Was FABULOUS!  For the first time in several years the weather here was amazingly perfect every single day!  I think we spent every minute of daylight outside!  We went to the park more than a few times, flew kites, blew bubbles, went on LONG walks, and drew with sidewalk chalk. 

  On Monday we went to a local park with a giant wooden playground and a duck pond with a walking trail around it.  Hannah and Ethan had a great time playing on the wood playground but it was a little to big for Andrew so I took him over to the smaller playground a few feet away.  He went on the slide a few times and then decided to move on to bigger things... like scaring the living daylights outta me!  There was this arched ladder thing that was about 5ft. tall that he insisted on climbing.  Ok, fine I can help him.  NOPE!  He would not let me touch him.  He had  to do it himself.  He did pretty well although there were a couple of times that I had to quickly grab him before he fell through the bars to the ground.  Andrew (and my heart) survived!  After playing on the playground for a while we went to the duck pond to take a walk around the path.  As we came upon a duck family I thought this would be a great learning opportunity for Andrew as he had never really seen duck up this close before.  They are very conditioned to people so you can just walk right up to them so off we went...... or started to.  As it turns out my little dare devil who is not scared of anything is scared of DUCKS!  Yep, scared of ducks!  We kept walking...........

 

  

On Tuesday, we had plans to go to an indoor play area but got there to realize that it was no longer in business!  The kids were super bummed.  We had been there before and they couldn't wait to get back so we were all disappointed to find it closed.  So we created a plan B.  I let the kids plan the day and I have to say they did a fantastic job.  Not only did they decide on something that they would have fun doing but something fun for Andrew as well.   First we went to McDonalds for lunch.  They didn't even want to play in the playland because they were so excited to put their plan into action.  

  They had me take them to WalMart where they picked out kites, bubbles and balls for everyone.  We then went up to their school and took advantage of the playground and giant open field. We flew kites, blew bubbles and played, played, played..... for HOURS!!  The kids played so hard and got so hot and sweaty that when we got home they were all begging to take a bath.  I'm sure that'll never happen again!

 

 On Wednesday we all went to the Ft. Worth Zoo.  We were there when they opened so we beat the massive crowds for the most part, although by early afternoon it was getting hard to push the stroller through the crowd.   We were able too all of the animals that the kids wanted to see except for "woofs".  That is a "dog" for those of you that don't speak Andrew.  No dogs at the Zoo....... who knew?!?  Any how,  the favorite find of the day (for the kids) would have to be the penguins.  They have a really great penguin habitat set up with icebergs and water and all.  It really was neat to see these guy so close up and watch them dive into the water and pop back up onto the ice!

  On the way home from the Zoo!

  On Thursday we had to kind of take it easy.  Ethan had Allergy shots that morning and he isn't supposed to be very active for about 24 hours afterwards.  After Ethan's shots we took April for a much needed visit to the groomer.  I am embarrassed to say she hadn't been since August and was looking pretty rough!  The man at the desk when I dropped her off even accused me of taking her somewhere else in between visits there because it had been so long!  When the kids and I went back to pick her up it was pretty funny because Andrew kept staring at her like he had never seen her before and Ethan said "mommy, are you sure that's our dog?".  I must admit,  she looked COMPLETELY different!   On the way home from picking up the pooch we stopped at Sonic for some milkshakes and slushes!  It was a nice relaxing day!

  On Friday Ethan was still coming off his Allergy shots but was allowed light activity so we stayed around the house and played outside.  We laid a blanket out in the backyard and the kids read, snacked, played in the sandbox, rode their bikes and and drew with chalk.

  Even though we had a "staycation" rather than a vacation it was still a blast and we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather!  Hope everyone else had a great Spring Break!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I have not been taking a shower in the kids bathroom because their shower head is SO much better than mine.   Even if theirs was better than mine I would just go buy a new one for my bathroom rather than lugging all of my shower garb into their bathroom each day. Ridiculous!  Glad I don't do that.

I am not more excited than the kids are about our Zoo Trip this Wednesday.  It will not be Andrew's first time at the Zoo and I will not take way too many pictures!

Andrew did not quickly find his favorite place to play at Dana's house.  Can you guess where it was?  It was not Derek's room.  It (surprisingly) wasn't the bathroom. It was...............................the DOG CRATE!

I did not run out of gas in the middle of a busy intersection.   Of course not.  After 16 years of driving I am certainly aware of these things and I would NEVER  run out of gas for the FIRST TIME EVER with two of my three kids in the car! 

Two super nice men wearing ties did not push my car out of the intersection into a safe parking lot while I was talking to OnStar .  Hannah and Ethan did not think that this was the coolest thing ever and did not keep asking if we could call a tow truck to drive us home.  

OnStar did not send Auto Rescue to bring me gas.    OnStar is not the best thing EVER invented!  

Oh yeah,   Kris did not laugh at me all night after I finally made it home!

What a week it was!  Next week should be a doozie............ the kids are on Spring Break!!!

Have a great week!!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not get into bed earlier in the week, very ready to go to sleep, and realize it was full of smooshed up Goldfish crackers and a plastic screwdriver.  This is impossible because I never let any of the kid eat in my bed, especially when they don't feel well!

Andrew did not spend the entire day on Thursday naked because he decided he wanted to use the "big boy"potty all day.   He did not only have one accident and it was not in MY BED!

On Thursday evening when Andrew spilled his juice in MY BED I certainly did not just cover it with a towel and proceed to go to bed as if nothing had happened because I had not JUST put clean sheets on my bed not even an hour before (see above Not Me! moment)! 

I did not go to WalMart nearly everyday this week because I can't ever manage to get everything I need all at once.

I did not tell Hannah that I couldn't help her with her math homework because I simply didn't "get it".  That's silly.  Of course I know 4th Grade math; it hasn't been that long!

I did not get all bent out of shape when Hannah told me that the substitute teacher she had made her sit out at recess because she made a bookmark out of a piece of notebook paper! I mean really..... I paid for the darn paper and if the child needs a bookmark then kudos to her for making her own.  Plus, not allowing a 4th grader to blow off steam and burn all of that pent up energy before returning to the classroom............. who is this really punishing?  

Have a great week everyone!

Boys will (not always) be boys!

Have any of you with children, particularly boys, ever wondered why they seem to love all things GROSS?  I never really thought about it...... until Andrew.  Yes, he is my second boy but he is my first BOY!  What I mean by that is that Ethan, although a boy, was and still is, fairly mild tempered, quiet and generally easy to please.  He likes to play quietly, doesn't really care to get dirty and hates to be "in trouble".   I never quite "got it" when people would talk about how hard it is to have a little boy.  When they would speak of rowdy, rambunctious, accident prone, dirt eating, little monsters I nodded in agreement, all the while wondering what in the heck all the fuss was about.  Boys are easy!  Well,...... I GET IT NOW!! I GET IT!!  I SOOO GET IT!!  Boys aren't easy, Ethan was easy.  I was deceived, tricked even! LOL! 

I have to say Andrew seriously gives me a run for my money and makes me feel every bit of 31; sometimes older!  I never knew such a little person could wear me out so quickly.  He challenges me everyday to remain patient and remember that this too shall pass!  Unlike his older brother he thoroughly enjoys getting dirty, in fact he seeks it out.  Hopping in the sandbox that is full of more water than sand while fully clothed, shoes and all makes him deliriously happy.  Splashing in the toilet tickles him to the core and spitting milk by the mouthfuls onto any surface that should NOT get wet is quite amusing to him!  To say that my little man is high maintenance is a GROSS understatement!!  

These are a few of Andrew's favorite things to do on a an average day:

• climb onto any counter top/ dresser he has time to get on 
• place handfuls of toys into the fish tank
• strip naked 10-20 times
• pee on whatever he has time to before I am able to catch him and dress him again
• put all of the dog's food into her water dish then play in it
• take the lid off of the trash can then proceed to rummage through it
• place misc. items in the toilet, splash it around.... FLUSH!... repeat if necessary.
• open the refrigerator and DUMP whatever doesn't have a lid and whatever he can get the lid off of. 
• scale the gate leading in to Hannah's room and go knock all of her c.d's, dvd's, and books off of the shelf and dump her fish food all over the carpet.

                                      

                   It's true what they say....

               "No one can resist a "Bad Boy"!

                               

Although completely different, Andrew and Ethan seem to be becoming the best of friends!  Whoever said that being a mom to boys is hard was right.  But not any harder than being a mom to a girl, just a different kind of hard, as I am finding out as Hannah becomes older and nears those dreadful teenage years.  Being a Mom is hard.  The hardest thing that I have ever done.  The best thing I have ever done.  I am so blessed to be the Mom to these amazing kids!  Luckily for Hannah and Ethan they were born first..... I'm KIDDING people!!!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Since I did not forget to drain the water from the tub after I gave Andrew a bath the other night he most certainly did not get back into the water..... footy jammies and all!  

I did not let him play a little longer in the tub.... in his soggy jammies because I am a sucker for his giggles.  Of course, I promptly removed the wet clothes and redressed him in warm dry clothes!

I did not walk in to the kitchen to find a certain little boy had used the foot stool to hoist himself into the sink and SOAK himself!  I took some pictures immediately removed him, stripped him down and dried him off.  Upon returning with a dry diaper and dry clothes I did not find him in the sink splashing AGAIN!  

               Wow!  There seems to be a common theme this week!   I may need to look into getting somebody into some swimming lessons ASAP!

Upon showing Kris the pictures that I took of Andrew in the sink.... in his clothes.... soaking wet, he did not question why on earth I grabbed my camera and proceeded to take 20 pictures rather than getting him out! "Ummmm, are you kidding!  Do you know me? When am I not taking pictures?"  

I did not get sidetracked and have to rewash the same load of laundry not once but twice because it sat in the washer and got mildewy!  I am always on top of the laundry and we all no there is nothing around to distract me from such tasks!

I did not just go buy a new shower curtain liner rather than just washing our yucky one.  They clean up just fine in the washing machine so there would have been no need to throw it out.  So I don't have a brand new one!!